In 1864, Arizona—which was an official territory of the United States—was a vast desert. Women in Arizona could not vote, serve on juries or exercise full control over property in a marriage. They had no direct say in laws governing their bodies. Hispanic and African American women had even fewer rights than white women. The Arizona Supreme Court ruled on April 9, 2024, that a 160-year-old abortion ban passed during this territorial period will go into effect. Since that ruling, the Arizona legislature has been grappling with how to handle the near-total ban. Even if the ban is ..read more

Girls have been systematically erased from conversations about the climate crisis. For many, this erasure has happened despite the life-changing impacts it is already having on their lives. Climate change is a crisis for girls’ rights as it exacerbates pre-existing risk-factors and heightens them to dangerous extremes. What will it take for decision-makers to be convinced that girls should not just be a focus of responses. but also at the forefront of change? The post Planet Versus Plastics: The Climate Crisis, Girls and Ice Cream appeared first on Ms. Magazine ..read more

Virginia became the 12th U.S. state and first in the South to end child marriage last week, after Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) signed HB 994 into law. The law completely ends child marriage in the state by establishing a minimum marriage age of 18 without exceptions and removes a legal loophole that previously allowed emancipated minors to marry in Virginia. The law will go into effect on July 1, 2024. Child marriage has been shown to result in increased risk of future poverty, particularly for teen moms, as well as greater vulnerability to sexual and domestic violence, human trafficking, coercive ..read more

The 28th U.N. Climate Climate Change Conference (COP) currently meeting in Dubai until Dec. 12, is being hailed as the “Health COP"––promising to bring the climate and health agenda into the mainstream. Yet we are seeing almost no direct focus on sexual and reproductive health and rights, which is a critical gap because climate change creates barriers to fulfilling those rights. The post The First ‘Health’ COP Must Prioritize Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights for Young People appeared first on Ms. Magazine ..read more

The United Nations Human Rights Committee directed the U.S. to address rampant discrimination against women in American law and society, including epidemic rates of violence against women and girls as well as violations of their sexual and reproductive rights. The committee specifically directed the U.S. government to recognize the fully ratified Equal Rights Amendment. The post United Nations Condemns U.S. Failure to Address Discrimination Against Women, Directs U.S. to Ratify ERA and CEDAW appeared first on Ms. Magazine ..read more

Kriti Bharti founded her nonprofit, Saarthi Trust, in 2011 to fight child marriage and empower women and girls. Since then, she has helped legally annul 49 child marriages and prevented 1,700 more from being “solemnized” in ceremonial engagements. She has aided in the rehabilitation of 20,500 children and women, and has conducted orientation programs that resulted in 35,000 villagers taking oaths to resist child marriages. “One day,” she said, “we should be able to say, ‘Once upon a time, there was something called child marriage.’” (This article originally appears in the Fall 2023 issue of&nb ..read more

The world is letting girls fall behind at an alarming rate. This International Day of the Girl, the world must reassess its commitments to girls everywhere—for a flourishing world and, most importantly, for the individual health, rights and well-being of each girl, no matter what.  Girls will reach their fullest potential when global governments comprehensively prioritize their education, safety, health and autonomy. The post How the World Is Letting Girls Fall Behind appeared first on Ms. Magazine ..read more

U.S. foreign policy prevents the protection of refugees, those in conflict zones, and those impacted by natural disasters. Yet the House Appropriations Committee has chosen to pass a budget that will defund the agencies and programs that are most prepared to expertly respond to the needs of girls and women on conflict zones. It is far past time that Congress passes the Abortion is Healthcare Everywhere Act, which will repeal the Helms Amendment; and the Support UNFPA Funding Act, which would restore funding to UNFPA for the next five years. With the stroke of a pen, the Biden administration al ..read more

"One thing that we see now, even with all of the challenges of a totalitarian government and of the Taliban dictatorship, is that the people on the frontlines of this fight are the women of Afghanistan. It is incredible that they are coming into the streets to fight for fundamental freedoms. I think this is a big lesson for all of us, even for those in the United States and others in the international community, to see these women now." (This essay is part of Women's Rights and Backsliding Democracies project—a multimedia project made up of essays, video and podcast programming, presented ..read more

The year 2013 saw the worst accident in the history of the international garment industry: A clothing factory collapsed outside of Dhaka, Bangladesh, killing at least 1,127 workers, mostly young women, and injuring another 2,500. "Ten years later, the anniversary of the Rana Plaza disaster offers an opportunity to reflect on the progress that has been made and the work that still needs to be done to ensure decent conditions for Bangladesh’s more than four million garment workers." The post From the Ashes of Rana Plaza: ‘Consumers Want to Know How Their Clothes Are Made’ appeared firs ..read more